Monday Morning Musings

Posted on December 22, 2014 under Monday Morning Musings with one comment

Merry Christmas

I would like to start off by thanking more than 2500 people who took the time to read the tribute that I wrote for my niece, Audrey Hibbs. It is very obvious that she was loved by a lot of people.

As another year winds down, I would like to thank my wife Betty who tries her best (!) to keep me on the straight and narrow. Most of you already know this but she edits all of my stories. ( Not this one ) Typically, I get an idea, scratch a few words in a scribbler and then early in the morning ( usually around 5:00 ) write the piece from start to finish. After Betty is suitably caffeinated, she does the edit. Not only does she tidy up punctuation and spelling, but she also adds and subtracts words… sometimes complete sentences and even whole paragraphs! I almost didn’t recognize my menopause story after she got her hands on it!  She makes every story better and deserves much of the credit.

After Audrey’s funeral, we had a great gathering of family and friends at our old house on Hillcrest Street, as we have done countless times over 60 years. We sang non stop for several hours.  Music has always played a central role in my family’s life. I decided that I would do a story about music and gatherings which are commonplace in this part of the world. Coming up soon, “The House That Roared.”

In case you missed it, I put a YouTube video on Facebook yesterday. My tribute to Audrey referred to a song written and performed by Vince Gill, along with Alison Krause and Ricky Skaggs. I have asked my kids to sing this at my funeral. I suggested that they didn’t need to learn it right away! Please take a few minutes to listen to this. It is magnificent and may bring comfort to those of you suffering the death of a loved one. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwFiWCUkk4M

Coming up on Wednesday, is a hockey story. It is pure, unadulterated nostalgia. If you ever watched a hockey game on a grainy black and white television, while fiddling with the rabbit ears, then this is a story for you. The death of Jean Beliveau prompted me to write this one. “When We Were Young” takes a look back on what many feel was the golden age of hockey.

Expect a number of “road stories” as my son Peter and I hit the road on Boxing Day for a 9,000 km road trip to Victoria, B.C. via the southern United States. We hope to spend a day in Nashville and check out New Orleans. I am looking forward to getting back to San Francisco. I happened to be in the city on April 15, 1974 when Patty Hearst and and members of the SLA robbed a bank. This was a big story back then and being there that day was somewhat surreal.

As you will be busy stuffing your face with turkey and chocolates on Christmas morning, there will be no Thursday Tidbits this week, unless , of course I win the lottery!

Have a wonderful Christmas and thank you for your support  of my work.

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